Shipping-case.



W. H. DOBLE.

SHIPPING CASE.

APPLICATION FILED IIAYsI, IaIe.

jlL, Patented Dec. 12, 1916.

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W. H. DOBLE.

SHIPPING CASE.

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Patented Dec. 12, F316.

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WILLIAM I-I. DOBLE, 0F QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TOPNEUMATIC SCALE CORPORATION, LIMITED, 0F QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, A

conronn'rlon or MAINE.

SHIPPING-CASE.

.Application led May 31, 1916.

To all w wm it may conce/m Be it known that I, VILLIAM H. DOBLE, acitizen of the United States, residing at Quincy, county of Norfolk,State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Shipping-Cases, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to an improvement in shipping cases.

It has special reference to a shipping case which is intended to bereturned to the shipper to be again used. It has been found sometimesthat after the shipping case has been received at its destination withthe filled packages and before it is returned to the shipper that it hasbeen improperly used as, for instance, as a receptacle for refusematerial such as rubbish or ashes or other material for which theshipping case was not intended to be used and which soils the interiorof the case so that when it is finally returned to the shipper it iseither entirely ruined for its proper purpose or else conside erablelabor and expense has to be incurred in cleaning and renovating it.

The object of the present invention is to so construct the shipping casethat after the merchandise has been removed at its destination it willbe practically impossible to use the case for such improper purposes ashave been mentioned, or, at any rate, that it can not be so used withoutsuch incon venience that there will be no temptation for such misuse.

rllhe invention consists in forming the case with a drop bottom providedwith locking mechanism which normally retains the bottom fastened inplace while the cover is closed but which is unlocked by the act ofopening the cover so that if the shipping case is lifted from the flooror other support after the cover is raised or partially opened, thebottom will automatically drop and allow the contents of the case tofall out.

rlihe invention is especially intended for application to a shippingcase formed with an inner and an outer wall spaced apart from each otherand having the panels hinged together in such manner that the case whenemptied may b-e folded into compact form to be returned to the shipper,and the drawings illustrate the invention as applied to a shipping caseof that character, al-

Specication of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 100,758.

though it is not intended to limit the inven- Patented Dec. i2, 1min.k

tion either to a folding shipping case or to a case formed with innerand outer Wall plates.

The invention will be fully understood when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and the novel features thereof will be clearlydefined in the claims in the close of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure l is a top plan view of a shipping caseembodying the invention, the cover being broken away at one of the rearcorners. F ig. 2 is a bottom plan view looking up from beneath, thebottom panel being partly broken away at two corners and one cornerbeing partly in section. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a shipping caseembodying the invention, the top being closed and the bottom also closedand locked, the side panel being partly broken away to show the lockingmechanism for the bottom. Fig. 4- is a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3.Fig. 5 is a side elevation viewed from the same side as Fig. 3 butshowing the cover partly raised and the bottom unlocked and dropped.Fig. G is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a bottom plan viewlooking up from beneath one of the rear corners of the case.

Referring now to the drawings A is the top panel. or cover, B is thebottom panel, C is the rear panel, D the front panel, and E and F thetwo opposite side panels of the shipping case.

Each panel is composed of an inner plate l, an outer' plate 2, and anintermediate corrugated plate 3 which contacts alternately with theinner and outer plates and is employed for strengthening and stiifeningthe panel.

The top panel A has a hinged connection A at its rear edge with the rearpanel C, and the front panel D at its lower edge has a hinge connection5 with the front edge of the bottom panel B. Preferably the front andrear panels have hinged connections with the two opposite side panels topermit collapsing or folding of the four vertical panels of the shippingcase when the top and bottom panels are opened but that forms no part ofthe present invention.

The front edge of the panel A is intended to be locked to th-e top edgeof the front panel D in any suitable manner which permits of its beingunlocked. In the form of sov construction shown the front edge ofthe topcover A is formed with an offset portion G which, when the cover isclosed, engages the upper'end 7 of the front panel D. The cover A isformed with a shoulder portion S and the upper end of the front panel .Dis formed with a hook portion 9, said hook portion 9j and shoulderportion 8 being adapted to be engaged by a sealing clip 10 to fasten thecover closed. Said sealing clip may be bentr or broken to unlock thecover.

Theupper edge of the side panel E has a vertical drop 11 somewhatinfrontof itis rear edge7 and the side panel F also has a similar drop.From the bottom of said drop 11, the top edge 12 of the side panel Eextends horizontally to the rear edge of said panel.

The portion of the top or cover panel A from its front edge to thebeginning of the drop 11 is made of a width to form a close fit betweenthe side panel E and its opposite side panel F and the rear part of saidcover panel A is widened out, being formed with a lateral extension 13on its two oppo site edges to lap over onto the upper edge of theportion 12 of the side panel E and the corresponding portion of theopposite side panel F.

The lower ledge of the side panel E is formed at its rear part with araised portion 14 connected withthe forward portion of the bottom edgeof said side panel by a riser 15, said elevated portion lll and riser 15being preferably of the samedimensions and corresponding location as theportions 12 and 11 at the top edge of said panel. The opposite sidepanel F has its lower edge constructed in a similar manner to the loweredge of the panel E.

,The rear part of the bottom panel B is formed with lateral extensions33 corresponding with the lateral extensions 13 of the top panel. Thesaid lateral extensions 13 lap onto the lower edges of the side panel Erand its opposite panel F while the front narrower portion of the'bottompanel fits up between the said side panels.

rlhe lower edge of the panel E is closedV with a channel member 16 whichis offset to conform .to the rise 15 in the inner and outer plates ofsaid side panel. A bell crank shaped dog 17 is pivoted between the innerand outer plates of the side panel E by a pin 34. Said dog has one arm18 whose under side is engaged by the free end of a spring 19, the otherend of said spring being secured at 2O toa block 21 which may befastened to the inside of the panel E. The other arm 22 of said dogextends down through a slot 23 in the lower face of the panel member 16and is formed with a toe 24.

A channel member 25 `closes the rear edge of the bottom panel B, beinginserted between the inner and outer plates thereof. Channel members 27also close the two opposite edges of the bottom panel B.

A bar 2G extends crosswise from one side edge to the other of the bottompanel B and is formed with a. slot 28 into which the foot of the arm 22f the dog extends. rPhe wall of said slot 28 is in part undercut to forman overhanging flange 29 with which the toe 24 of said dog is adapted toengage when the bottom panel is in closed position as shown in Fig. 3.The spring 19 which presses up against the under side of the arm 18 isunder tension and tends to press up said arm 1S and thereby to disengagethe toe of the dog from the flange 29.

A bar 30 lies loosely in a vertical position in one of the spacesbetween the corrugated plate 3 and one of the face plates of the sidepanel E, the lower end of said bar resting upon the upper side of thearm 1S of the dog and the upper end extending up a short distance abovethe upper edge of the rear portion 12 of said panel E where it isengaged by the under side ofthe lateral extension 13 of the cover panelA. A pin 31 secured to said bar 30 projects laterally through avertically elongated slot 32 in one of the wall plates of the panel E,preferably through the inner wall plate 1 because it is preferred tohave the outer wall plate entirely unperforated. This elongated verticalslot allows a limited range of vertical movement of the bar 30. The sidepanel F at the opposite side of the box from the panel E is alsoprovided with a dog and an operating bar and spring similar to the dog17, bar 30, and spring 19 already described adapted to form lockingengagement with the flange 29 where it extends beneath the lower edge ofsaid side panel F. When the cover A is turned up on its hinge as shownin Fig. 5 the bars 30 are free to move upward and thereby to permit thedog 17 to be turned on its pivot by the upward pressure of the spring 19and disengage the toe 24- of each of the dogs from the flange 29. Whenthe cover panel A is closed as in Fig. 3, the extension portion 13pushes down on the upper ends of the bars 30 thereby holding the dogs 17in a position where the toe 24 of each dog is engaged in the slotbeneath the flange 29 and thereby locks the bottom panel B so that whenthe box is lifted from the Hoor the bottom panel B will still remainclosed, even though the sealing clip 10 is removed provided the cover isnot lifted after the clip is removed. When the cover is lifted, the dogwill be turned and thus disengaged from locking position but the bottompanel will still remain closed, although unlocked until the box islifted. As soon as the box is lifted after the cover is opened, the rearend of the bottom panel will drop down l n ft as shown in Fig. 5 therebyallowing any contents of the box to drop out through the bottom.

All of the six panels composing the shipping case preferably have theopen space between the inner and outer plates of each edge closed bysuitable channel plates.

W hat l claim is:

1. A box having a drop bottom, means for normally retaining said dropbottom in a closed position, a cover for the top, and means controlledby said cover in its closed position to retain said bottom locking meansin operative position.

2. A box having a cover, a drop bottom, means for locking said dropbottom in a closed position, means tending to release said bottomlocking mechanism, and intermediate mechanism controlled by the cover inits closed position to hold said releasing mechanism in restraint, saidrestraining mechanism being released by the opening of the cover.

3. A box having a cover, a drop bottom, locking mechanism mounted withintwo opposite side walls of the box and projecting down through the loweredge of said side walls, said bottom being slotted to receive the saiddownwardly projecting lock mechanism and having coperating means to beengaged by said locking mechanism whereby the said bottom is locked inclosed position, means which tend to release said locking mechanism whenthe cover is open, and means controlled by the cover in its closedposition to retain said locking mechanism in locking engagement withsaid bottom.

Ll. A box having front and rear walls, two opposite side walls, a dropbottom hinged on one edge to said front wall, a cover hinged to theupper edge of said rear wall, each of the said two side walls havingpivoted therein a bell crank dog having one arm which extends downthrough a slot in the lower edge ot the wall in which it is mounted, thebottom being slotted on its inner face and having a socket member whichis adapted to be engaged by a tooth on the downwardly projecting arm ofsaid dog to lock said bottom tothe side wall, means which normally holdsaid dog in a disengaged position with relation to the socket member insaid bottom when the cover is open, and intermediate mechanism engagedby said cover which, when the cover is closed, holds said dog in lockingengagement with the bottom and which is released to permit the dog to bedisengaged when the cover is opened.

5. A box having front and rear walls, two opposite side walls, a dropbottom hinged on one edge to the front wall, a cover hinged to the upperedge of said rear wall, a dog pivotally mounted in each of said sidewalls having one arm which extends down through the lower edge of thewall in which it is mounted and into a slot in the bottom panel, acooperating member` in said slot with which said dog is adapted toengage to lock the said bottom in closed position, a vertically slidablemember mounted in said side wall, the lower end of said slidable memberengaging with said dog, the upper end being engaged by the said cover,and tension means which tends to unlock said dog and lift the slidablemember, said unlocking mechanism being rendered inoperative by thedownward pressure of the cover in closed position and being renderedoperative when the cover is raised to release the pressure.

ln testimony whereof I atlix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

VILLIAM H. DOBLE.

Witnesses:

ELIZABETH HIGGINS, ETHYL W. MATHnsoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. l

